Stereo Tool

Hello, not sure how to phrase this but been using the Declipper addon with Stereo Tool for a year now and not encountered any issues until yesterday.

When I use the declipper I turn it on, and use the advanced clipper's drive control and lower it between -3 and -6dB and make sure hard limit is on - this has worked fine for me and all results using this have had compressed files open up their dynamic range. All of these files on the output have a true peak of 0dB as I would expect.

However since yesterday, been using this program the same way (using a preset I created months prior) and now when I use it on different files the dynamic range increases still a little but each time I mixdown the file using the declipper the headroom on the output no longer peaks at 0 but changes each time I do a mixdown using my DAW. Now this could be a problem with my DAW - I'm not sure but I've always used the DAW (Mixcraft 10) with the Stereo Tool VST3 plugin and had no issues until now. No updates for the DAW were required that caused this issue.

Also, no matter how much I lower the Advanced Clipper's drive the amount declipped and "dynamic-fied" stays the same, just with more headroom. In the past, the more I push the Advanced Clipper's drive down towards -10dB the file I am declipping has its dynamic range massively increased, but recently this no longer happens and it stays the same.

Hopefully this makes sense, but please do ask for more information if required - would like to know if this is a bug or not.

What version of the VST3 is being used?

It's very dependent on the source material. Does it behave as expected if you re-try one of the previous tracks you successfully made more dynamic?

If you suspect it could be the DAW, try another one and see if it still happens. Reaper is essentially free.

What you could also do is turn off all clipping so peaks can be free, then render in 32bit float so the peaks above 0dB are preserved. Then reopen the render and see if the peaks reach above 0dB. This will help determine if it's the clipping/final limiter or something else.

I would also try resetting the declipper module, in case something was accidentally touched.

Finally, are you using Natural Dynamics too, or just the Declipper?

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NB: I'm not a professional, just a hobbyist, and as such I could be wrong. If so, please, somebody correct me.

Hello, thank you for getting back to me.

I am using 10.40.

Have tested a previous file and yes that behaves normally. Both this old file and the new files that seem to be struggling are both at 44100 16-bit downloaded off TIDAL using my AudFree converter. All of the "new" files were batch downloaded and are from the same artist. However, just noticed not all of these files have this issue, some of them are peaking at 0dB and the more I reduce the drive of the clipper the more dynamic they get, so I find it weird. The dynamic range of the working files is similar to the ones I am having trouble with.

Not sure if I did this right, but turned off Advanced Clipper but kept the Declipper on, bounced out to 44100 32-bit float and yes it reaches 0 but since the Advanced Clipper was off the dynamic range is exactly the same as the original file before I put it through Stereo Tool.

Haven't touched Natural Dynamics for these. Sometimes I use it if a song's drums are too muddy but with the tests I've conducted I can confirm this has no effect on them.

All signs point to the new music having the issue, not the declipper. If the new stuff doesn't work like the old stuff, it must be the songs themselves. Some things declip and have dynamics restored better than other things, dependent mostly on the original file's mastering.

You can go into the declipper settings and try to change the detection threshold or maximum peak restoration values for this trouble album and see if it helps or makes things worse. I also like True Bass to restore the missing sub frequencies, help which fill up untouched headroom. Sorry I can't help more.

There's also an app from Thimeo called WatchCat that does file-based batch processing and normalization. It may be useful for this instead of needing to use a DAW.

_________________
NB: I'm not a professional, just a hobbyist, and as such I could be wrong. If so, please, somebody correct me.

No don't worry I appreciate your help. Not sure what's going on. I do like to use True Bass a lot to add more humph to the lower end and sometimes the highs exciter but in the case of the songs that are having trouble they have enough sub in the kick.

I will persevere with these songs.